When the Global CoworkingUnconference Conference (GCUC) needed help driving interested conference attendees to the website and increasing conference ticket sales, they turned to Sundaram’s experienced Digital Marketing Team. We created and executed a Google Adwords advertising campaign focused on efficient spend while reaching interested attendees across the U.S.

Although branded search queries centered on the conference itself and conference topics were relatively inexpensive, the available impression share for these queries was minimal; therefore, we needed to pursue a broader targeting strategy. This demanded smart thinking to avoid quickly exhausting the daily budget with expensive keywords.

The Solution

Leveraging historical data from Google Analytics, Sundaram identified the best location targeting opportunities. Next,Sundaram researched DMAs outside of the conference city that were highly populated and known for coworking. These cities were targeted more aggressively than other cities in the U.S through location bid enhancements. We then researched metro areas within driving distance of the conference, and targeted them more aggressively as well. Finally, Sundaram gathered demographic data on individuals who had attended the conference in previous years.

Armed with a solid strategy, Sundaram developed the PPC program, taking into account optimal times for ad serving, the best queries, and writing strong ad creative (Google Analytics also provided real-time data that allowed us to test various ad creative and ad distribution methods and quickly view and analyze data for to make the necessary changes). Later in the campaign, Sundaram implemented Display Network targeting to reach users on other relevant websites that were likely interested in coworking, specifically entrepreneurs and business people. With a campaign in place, event tracking was established to track users that clicked to purchase tickets, as well as users that signed up for email updates. The organizers and planners of the conference combined this data with actual ticket sales from the ticketing platform.

The Result

Overall website traffic was up 270% during the duration of the PPC program, looking at the comparative view. Fifty-three percent of the total website traffic was attributed to new visitor traffic, while 54% of all Paid Search traffic was attributed to new visitors. Traffic tended to be higher throughout weekdays than on weekends, so Sundaram placed a greater focus on weekdays and decreased spend on the weekend. Throughout the duration of the campaign, there were a total of 838 Events to either buy tickets or signup for email updates. Paid Search accounted for 76 of these Events.